Sight-glass for toothpick-packing machines and the like.



= W. W. PAINTER.

SIGHT GLASS FOR TOOTHPIGK PACKING MACHINES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 1'7, 1912.

Patented July 23, 1912.

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W. W. TAINTER. SIGHT GLASS FOR TOOTHPICK PACKING MACHINES AND THE LIKE.

' APPLICATION FILED 3.17, 1912.

1,033,128. r Patented July23,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

witnesses Inventor COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0.,WASHlNu1'ON, D. C. i

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIS w. TAINTER, or DIXFIELD, MAINE, ASSIGNOB. TO FRANK W. BUTLER ANDROBERT T. WHITEI-IOUSE, TRUSTEES or THE ESTATE or CHARLES roRsT R, DE-

CEASED.

SIGHT-GLASS FOR ,TOOTHPICK-PAC'KING MACHINES AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1912.

Application filed January 17, 1912. Serial No. 671,686.

State of Maine, have'invented new and use ful Improvements inSight-Glasses for Toothpick-Packing Machines and the Like, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to machines of the general character illustrated inUnited States Letters Patent No. 953,358, dated March 29, 1910, grantedto Simon S. and Willis W. Tainter and George P. Stanley for a boxingmachine and the improvements herein to be described will be shown asassociated with such a boxing machine. The boxing machine described inthe said patent is one for automatically filling boxes with tooth picksand comprises a vertical inclosed channel through which the tooth picksare fed, and in which they are arranged in parallelism and from whichthey are delivered by an intermittently operating measuring gate. Toothpicks are delivered to this arranging and delivering machine by feedapparatus which comprises a channel or chute which leads from a sourceof more or less regular supply. The irregularity of the supply ofmaterial not infre quently leads to the interruption of the operationsof the box filling machine; occasionally Without previous warning thesupply of material runs short, the inclosed channel is empty and it maybe that several boxes have to pass the machine without.

being filled. Or again, the supply from above may be too copious untilthe inclosed channel becomes filled, when the material spills out at thetop of the channel and is liable to clog the feeding mechanism. Thevertical height of these automatic box filling machines is such that itis impracticable to expect the operator in charge of the machine who iskept quite busy in handling the filled boxes) to keep any watch upon thecontents of the inclosed channel, so that even if peep holes wereprovided in the side of the channel the operator could not make use ofthem and at the same time attend properly to other duties connected withthe machine.

My improvement herein to be described obviates this difliculty andenables the operator in charge of a machine of this character to keepsubstantially constant watch on the condition of .the' material in themachine without diverting attention from other and more important dutiesinvolved in attend ance upon the machine.

In the drawings hereto annexed which illustrate my improvements,Figure1, is a front view of a machine of the character above indicated with myimprovements attached; and Fig. 2 is a side view of the same.

The material, such as tooth picks, which is fed to the machine comesfrom a polishing drum D in which the material is tumbled andpolished,finally to find its way through 'a cylindrical box-like screenS from which the individual pieces fall into the adjustable chute A fromwhich they slide into the conductor G. The quantity of picks or similararticles delivered to the conductor 0 depends in partupon the extent ofsupply by the drum ,D and in part also upon the location of the chute Ain relation to the screen S; the farther the chute A is thrust into theinclosure made by the screen the larger will be the quantity of toothpicks delivered by it to the conductor C, in a given time, other thingsbeing equal.

The chute A is mounted upon the slide rod A which slides in the hangersA A a weight W hanging by a cord W which is attached to the slide rod Aat tends constantly to withdraw the chute A from the cylindrical screenS. A cord Ppassing over a guide wheel B is attached at one end to theouter end of the slide rod A and at the other to a lever B attached tothe lever B at its opposite end a cord or wire B leads and is attachedto the handle N pivoted to the frame of the machine and within easyreach of the operator. It will now be observed that when the handle N ispulled down, the chute A will be inserted farther into the screen S andthat an opposite movement of the handle N will cause the chute A to bewithdrawn to a greater or less extent from the screen S; To increase thefeed of material, the handle N is pulled down, to decrease it the handleis raised. The sector N through which the handle N passes exertssuflicient friction upon the handle to hold it in any position in whichit happens I to be left.

The automatic b x fill ng machine (of which only a few parts are hereinshown, reference being had to the aforesaid patent No. 953,368, forfuller description) comprises the vertical inclosed channel with sideplates F F and the front plate E seen in Fig. 1. A rear plate similar toE completes the rectangular inclosure of the channel. The side plates FF are perforated at a plurality of stat-ions, preferably three as H, H Hthe perforations in the two opposite plates being so arranged or alinedthat each pair of perforations forms an aperture or passage for a beamof light. Rays from the electric lights L, L L pass through the passagesmade by the apertures 11, H H provided the inclosed channel between theside plates F F, is empty; if it be filled with material of course thelight cannot pass. Provided the inclosed channel is empty beams of lightfrom three sources pass through the three apertures and impingerespectively on mirrors M, M M which are mounted and adjusted so as toreflect these rays upon the observation glass G which is mounted at theside of the machine and is so adjusted that it in turn will reflect theimages of all three lights to a single point indicated by the letter 0,this being the point wherein the normal conditions of things the eye ofthe attending operator will be located.

Referring to Fig. 2, the point 0 may be supposed. to be occupied by theeye of the person observing the drawing, and I, I I, represent theimages of the three lights L, L L in the observation glass G. By this ar*angement the attendant at the machine can see at a glance the conditionof the in terior of the inclosed channel in respect to material. passingthrough it. If the supply is properly adjusted to the speed of operationof the machine, the material should till the lower part of the channelso as to obstruct the rays of light passing through holes H and thus cutout the image of the light-source L If the image I appears in theobservation glass G the attendant by drawing down the handle N willincrease the rate of supply from the drum D until the image Idisappears. If the image I disappears this indicates that the supply istoo fast for the machine and the attendant will thereupon raise thehandle N until the diminished supply causes the image I to reappear.'Ihus observation and regulation of the machine can easily be carried onwithout interruption of the manipulation and disposition of boxes whichdevolves upon the attendant.

hat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the character described, an inclosed channel, meansto direct beams of light across said channel at several points, mirrorsto reflect said beams, respectively upon an observation glass, and saidobservation glass, located and arranged to present images of the severallights to one point of observation.

2. In a machine of the character described, an inclosed channel,apertures providing a plurality of transverse light pas sages throughthe channel, lights to throw beams through said apertures, a pluralityof mirrors to reflect said beams respectively, upon an observationglass, and said observation glass, located and arranged to pre sentimages of the several lights to one point of observation.

Signed by me at Strong, eighth day of January 1912.

WILLIS IV. TAINIER.

Maine, this \Yitnesses FRANK \V. BUTLER, A. L. Fmvnnnson.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

